With the move from Haji Lane to Hotel Boss at Lavender, The Ice Cream Man (or as my grandma says, “ice ka-lim man”) rebrands to TICM Gelato Cocktail Bar. The rebranding is significant not only because the space is bigger, it also signals a progression and growth.

Although TICM still serves 12 fixed flavors of homemade gelato with additional monthly special flavors, it is no longer just an ice cream parlor ; TICM is now a bistro and bar.

The focus here is alcoholic gelato cocktails, all at $16, and they are really good, especially after meals as desserts. My favorite is the monthly special, Bloody Mary (above), a combination of 3 persons’ efforts. The chef squeezes the juice and mixes the ingredients; The gelato chef transforms it into gelato; and finally the bartender makes it into a cocktail. It has savory Worcestershire and spicy Tabasco sauce, but it enters the mouth slightly sweet, leaving a tingling sensation. Complex and fun.

The other 3 gelato cocktails are also fantastic: Faithfully Yours is similar to liquid After Eight mint chocolate laced with vodka; Nuts About You is vodka with peanut butter gelato; and Got Wings is a pick-me-up, with redbull gelato. There is an Earl Gray cocktail that I’ll try the next time I’m there.

But the bistro food is better. Their signature is duck confit ($28), braised in its own fats in the oven for four hours, sitting in a sea of homemade orange sauce with cointreau.

But I prefer the fish and chips ($15.50). It is a dish found everywhere but not anywhere can make it this good. The seabass fillet is almost an inch thick in the middle, with a paper-thin crispy batter. Not greasy at all. One of the better fish and chips in Singapore.

Also delicious is the East-meets-West Asian duck pasta ($12.50), using homemade sauce that tastes similar to braised duck noodles at hawkers. It ends with a slight heat from the chilli padi; and the smoked duck, which is usually too salty elsewhere, is just right at TICM.

A very good waffle ($7) from their secret homemade recipe: it is thick and crusty on the outside, and fluffy inside. I paired it with their soy sauce ice cream with bits of kitkat. It sounds strange but it tastes like caramel.

Bistro business is hard to do. Competition is stiff with so many new shops popping up. Although TICM serves standard bistro fare, it is a cut above the rest. Their fish and chips is very shiok, Asian duck pasta is good, waffle flawless, and homemade gelato cocktails fun and easy. TICM has something good going for them.

TICM currently has a promotion. When you like their facebook page and share this article on your facebook, you get 20% off mains or gelato cocktails.